Food Blogs Shout Out

Kelly asked me what food blogs I read, and I thought the best way to answer would be its own post. You know that long list of food blogs that always appears on the side bar of a food blog? I find it completely intimidating. I will spend the better part of a day reading through one blog when I find it, I get totally overwhelmed when I see 50 all at once! Not to mention each one of those 50 has their own list. There's a ton of overlap, it feels very incestuous almost. But it's most intimidating because you don't know anything about it besides the name before you click the link. I'm going to do it a little differently. Below is a list of the food blogs I read and I've included a little blurb about what I like about them. I've organized them into a few different groups, since I read some more casually than others. Enjoy!

Food blogs I run to read as soon as I see a new recipe posted:

• Smitten Kitchen - This was the very first food blog I read when I first started cooking. Her pictures are amazing, her recipes are just the kind of food I eat, and most importantly her recipes are easy to follow and delicious! If there was one food blog I would recommend, it would be this one. Though it would be ever so hard to recommend just one! This blog is a mix of baking and cooking, though this year was pretty heavy on baking since she was pregnant.
• The Pioneer Woman - This is the most approachable food blog I've come across. Each recipe has step by step photographic instructions that make everything doable. Plus, her recipes are very non-fussy, and usually pretty darn hilarious. Very rustic. My kind of food, though her recipes tend to be a bit too high on the calorie scale for me to make often. The blog focuses on cooking, but there's definitely a good amount of baking thrown in!
• Pinch My Salt - This is the blog responsible for all the Peter Reinhart bread baking you see going around the interwebs. Most of her recipes are baking, especially breads because of the BBA challenge, but if you search her archives, there's some excellent cooking recipes as well. This is the blog responsible for the mango avocado corn and jicama salad I love to make, not to mention the most amazing pumpkin scones I still need to blog about. Yum!
• 101 Cookbooks - I'm new to this blog, but so far I like it. The ingredients are fresh, lots of vegetables and whole grains. The recipe index is organized beautifully. This is where I got my beloved tempeh recipe (the one that encouraged me to try tempeh for the first time!), so it's on my love list just for that. This blog is, I believe, mostly cooking, with some baking.
• And Then I Do The Dishes - I'm pretty new to this blog as well. It's mostly baking, and it always looks delicious!
• Honey & Jam - I just found this blog last week, and oh my is it scrumptious! All baking all the time. There are several recipes on this blog I want to try.
• Joy the Baker - This girl can bake. 'Nuff said. I haven't made many of her recipes because I never have much time for baking, but what I have made has been delicious. Well put together recipes, nice pictures, and a cute writing style.
• The Luna Cafe - This is the blog that opened my eyes to roasted chicken, and for that I am forever grateful. It's mostly cooking, but some baking. The recipes tend to be a bit...fussy for my taste, so I haven't tried anything else yet, but I'm sure I will.
• Noble Pig - The woman who writes this blog just moved to Oregon to open a winery. I hate her, but also want to be her best friend. Her recipes (cooking and baking, a good mix of both) are very non-fussy and approachable. She also has step by step pictures for a recipe, making them seem even easier. I've made a few of her recipes, and they all turned out fantastic! They tend to be a bit on the unhealthy side, but not always, and sometimes that's ok.
• Simply Recipes - Lots of great looking recipes. Mostly cooking. The recipe archive is really nicely organized, so you can search pretty specifically. So far I've only made the brussells sprouts hash, but it was pretty delicious. Looking forward to trying more.

Food blogs I check in with every once in a while, but rarely make anything from:

• Orangette - This might be in the category above if it were updated more often, but since the writer is a bit busy at the moment opening a restaurant (which I hear is very successful so far, I tried to check it out when I was in Seattle, but I didn't have the time. Boo!), it's down here. I haven't tried a lot of her recipes, and her photography is a bit too dark and grainy for my taste, but what I have tried has been good, as many will attest.
• Tea & Cookies - A lovely, well-written blog I like to read, but updates are sporadic and the recipes don't usually speak to me.
• The Wednesday Chef - Again, a beautiful blog, but again, just not my kind of food usually. I've saved a recipe or two. Also, I use her recipe for roasting peppers. Yum!
• Cooking Books - A mixture of baking and cooking. The cooking doesn't wow me, but the baked goods always look scrumptious. I saved off a few recipes from this one, but I can't remember what they are.
• David Lebovitz - Because you can't mention food blogs and not mention him. He's like food blogging royalty, right? I haven't tried any of his recipes yet, but I want to! I tried making his persimmon bread last weekend, but I couldn't find enough hachiya persimmons. A travesty!
• Love and Olive Oil - I don't think I've tried any recipes from this one yet, but I know I saved a few off. Lots of baking. The pumpkin turkey chili looks good!
• Savory Sweet Life - Gorgeous pictures. Heavier on the baking side. I haven't made anything from this one yet, but I bet I will at some point. Nothing has quite called out to me yet.
• Shutterbean - I want to live in this woman's house. She's got a style and she goes there. And she cooks and bakes some amazingly delicious looking stuff. Several things on this blog are on my to-make list. Mostly baked goods.
• The Way The Cookie Crumbles - I just found this one today, but I already know I'm going to love it. The writer has a similar outlook on food as I do, and her recipes look scrumptious! Mostly baking. She does several recipe comparisons where she'll bake the same thing using two or three different recipes, then compare, then post all the recipes at the end. It's great!
• Bakerella - I've not tried any of her recipes. The presentation is always so daunting, it throws me off. I don't have the baking energy for cake pops and I don't have mini muffin pans for tiny pumpkin shaped things. They're a little fussy for me, but everything looks delicious. I'll try one of her recipes one of these days, I'm sure.

Blogs that aren't food blogs that I read because I enjoy and they occasionally post recipes that I try:

• Healthy Eats - This isn't technically a food blog, per se, but it's pretty darn close. It's all about healthy eating, including links to healthy recipes (it's associated with Food Network, so most of the recipes are from there), information on spotlight ingredients, and fun facts about nutrition. Now I know exactly why Omega-3s are so stinking good for me. This blog has changed my outlook on healthy eating tenfold. I highly recommend it to anyone as an interesting read, not necessarily as a life changer.
• Not Martha - Not really what I would call a food blog, but she has posted recipes. My first successful whole wheat bread recipe came from this blog. Plus, her other links are always so interesting.
• NPR Kitchen Window - Each article is written by a different person and includes recipes based on the topic written about. So it's very hit and miss, depending on who is writing the article that week. Deb from Smitten Kitchen did one on dumplings that was just amazing. Also, the pumpkin black bean soup I made last week came from one of these articles. I highly recommend checking it out!
• Angry Chicken - This is a craft blog, not a food blog by any means, but she posted the recipe for my favorite pumpkin muffins, and for that she gets a mention here.
• Posie Gets Cozy - Another craft blog, but she does post quite a few recipes. Mostly rustic fruit desserts or simple chicken dishes. They always catch my eye. Plus, I just love to read anything she writes.
• Rhymes With Spoon - I'd say this blog is about 2 parts crafts, 1 part cooking/eating. She's posted some links to some great recipes. Remember those crack twix bars? All her fault. I have a feeling if we lived in the same city we'd be eating buddies.

In a class their own:

• Serious Eats and The Kitchn - It's all recipes all the time! These blogs are basically dedicated to posting recipes from other food bloggers or from cookbooks they review and then give away. I've found several of the food blogs listed above because of these sites. They are a must.

Hope you enjoyed my little rant. I'd love it if you would enable my addiction and tell me what food blogs you enjoy.